Polymarket Launches 20x Leverage Perpetual Futures — SkimNews
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- Polymarket launched Polymarket Perps on September 3 with 10 initial markets — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, HYPE, gold, silver, WTI oil, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, and a SpaceX shares contract — that expanded to 67 within hours, with no contract expiration.
- Leverage caps vary by asset: crypto, the S&P 500, oil, gold, and silver support up to 20x, while 36 listed individual equities including Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, and Coinbase top out at 10x, per Polymarket's documentation.
- Perpetual contract mechanics include an hourly funding rate capped at 4% in either direction, with maintenance margin set at half the maximum leverage rate — meaning a fully leveraged 20x position can be liquidated after losing roughly 2.5% of posted margin.
- US traders are barred from placing Perps orders and redirected to Polymarket US, a separate CFTC-regulated exchange, a split rooted in a 2022 CFTC settlement that fined the company $1.4 million for running an unregistered swaps facility.
- Kalshi beat Polymarket to the US perpetual futures market by more than three months, winning CFTC approval for its Bitcoin perp on May 29 and subsequently filing for perpetuals on a dozen altcoins and a separate copper contract.
- Hyperliquid, the decentralized exchange dominating on-chain perps trading, poses the bigger competitive threat — and according to President Donald Trump, is working with the CFTC to open to US traders soon, with Bloomberg reporting ongoing negotiations with Kraken parent Payward.
Why it matters: Polymarket's US exclusion isn't new — it stems from the 2022 CFTC settlement — but the 20x leverage launch puts it in direct competition with Hyperliquid, which is reportedly moving onshore via CFTC talks and Payward negotiations. The 67-market rollout and Polymarket's pitch of combining crypto longs, Fed-rate bets, and S&P 500 shorts from a single account signals a push to become a full derivatives venue rather than a prediction-market niche player.
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